Harrod and Funck, an acoustic duo that I discovered through two friends in college, Matt Kitchell and Jimbo Bass, quickly won a permanent place in my music rotation for their incredible skill at the craft of songwriting. They are able to tell stories, weave images of life, love, and at times faith into intriguing songs that make a person think. 
The songwriting duo both graduated from Wheaton College just outside of Chicago before making an impact on the folk/americana scene in the late 1990s especially in the greater Boston area. Cyd and I like their music so much we used one of their songs for a slideshow we made for our wedding reception.
The past few weeks have been difficult in terms of how much the impact of Cyd's dad, Ted, being gone is really having on us. Charlotte still looks for him whenever we get to their house. A few weeks ago we put the garden in that he has always done, of course not quite like he would have done it, I'm sure. Those few days as I was working in the yard and garden, this song kept playing over and over again in my head. The garden in one sense is a sacred space for me, for us...it is a reminder of our dependence on God to provide rain, sun, and food for us, which in turn points to our greater need for reconciliation to God. The ancient Celts have this understanding of "thin places" those places where heaven and earth seem to meet and the presence of God is perhaps more evident to humans. I don't think that the garden is where God's presence is more evident, perhaps it is just the tool that God uses to open our hearts to his work in our lives. To take something so earthly and then transform it into something sacred, something that points us to the greater reality of God's presence with us no matter what it is we are facing. That is after all, what Jesus did when he took the bread and the wine and infused it with new meaning that would forever change the way we look at those two things.
It's funny to me how God seems to have this passion for taking the ordinary things of life and transforming them! I guess that's one of the reason God has such an affinity for rescuing stubborn, stiff-necked, humanity from our sin and own devices.
The song below is always a reminder of the presence of God in my life and the world around me, even, perhaps mostly when I feel the furthest away from God. I think the song speaks for itself so I won't add any more since I've already written a chapter.
"Wind in A Net"
These days my heart can be black as a raven's wing.
But soon I'll run full circle, let the day begin.
Will you whisper in my ear?
Exchange my small coin fears
For the only rumor I hope is true.
My grandfather told me once, "Stand close to me."
The day he returned to the earth I feared the world would freeze.
Lowered in the cold, cold ground,
His gentle voice still the sweetest sound,
Please let the rumors be true.
Could have been asleep
But I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.
The days, they will come, the days they'll go.
At times they'll make as much sense as a summer snow.
Catch the wind in a net,
Lest we forget
Impossible rumors could be true.
Could have been asleep but I swore that I saw you walking.
Could have been dreaming but I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.
Now it's the fall, killing time in this holy place.
Suddenly everything is spilling with your grace.
Will you whisper in my ear?
Exchange my small coin fears
For the only rumor I hope is true.
Could have been dreaming...
Could have been asleep but I swore that I saw you walking.
Could have been dreaming but I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.
By Jason Harrod and Brian Funck
http://www.jasonharrod.com/http://www.brianfunck.com/index.html
